It’s amazing what you find when you're tidying up after Christmas. We came across an old campaign from a few years back, when we posted a writing tip every day throughout Advent. 

The tips are timeless, and perfect if you’ve made a New Year resolution to develop your writing, so we thought we'd share them again now.

1. 🚶🏽‍♀️ Stuck for ideas? Take a stroll – you'll be amazed at what pops into your head.

2. ⏱️ Struggling on a first draft? Try setting yourself a time limit; a little pressure can really focus the mind.

3. 🤔 Expressing a strong opinion is a sure-fire way to get people’s attention. Just don’t expect them all to agree with you.

4. 😡 You’ll never believe why you shouldn't write teaser headlines. (Yes, it’s because they’re really annoying.)

5. ❓ How could starting with a question get your readers thinking?

6. 🚫 Having too many Capital Letters makes copy Hard To Read. Save them for proper nouns.

7. 📢 The active voice is punchier and more concise. Matt wrote the words not the words were written by Matt.

8. 💥 Vary the length of your sentences to make an impact. Just like this.

9. 📚 To be clear, use simple words instead of utilising sesquipedalian ones.

10. 🔗 And another thing: you can start a sentence with a conjunction.

11. 🔁 Repeating phrases can be useful. Repeating phrases adds emphasis.

12. 🗯️ “Direct speech brings colour to your writing," says Matt.

13. 📈 Research shows that stories are more memorable, and more persuasive, than statistics alone.

14. 🧠 A bit of alliteration makes writing much more memorable too.

15. ✂️ Avoid redundant phrases. The reason for this is because they add nothing to your writing.

16. 🙂 You’ll find it's friendlier and more direct to use contractions.

17. ⛔️ 'Unnecessary' quotation “marks” interrupt the flow of your writing.

18. 🙈 If you have a favourite word, check you're not using that favourite word it too often.

19. 🚀 Despite what you may have heard, it's okay to boldly go and split infinitives.

20. 👀 When your you're writing, watch out for words that sound the same but are spelt differently. Homophones can be tricky to spot.

21. 🦄 It's a myth that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes it really is the best thing to end with.

22. 🔎 Check your writing carefully to see if you any words out. Oops.

23. 🔄 To catch typos, try reading a sentence forwards then backwards so you focus on each word.

24. 👂🏻 Give your writing a final check by reading it aloud. Go on, nobody's listening.

If we had to pick one tip, what would it be? Probably the first one: if you’re stuck for ideas, take a stroll. Some of the best writing happens away from a desk, when the mind is free to wander.